Ep 1. Human Cannonballs

Scrapheap Challenge, also known as Junkyard Wars, is a British television series that challenges teams of engineers to build machines out of junk to win a specific objective. The ninth season of the show starts with one of the most ambitious challenges yet - building a human cannonball machine.

The first episode of the season, titled "Human Cannonballs," begins with two teams arriving at the Scrapheap Challenge junkyard. The first team is made up of siblings, Tim and Charlotte, who are self-proclaimed experts in welding and fabrication. The second team consists of two friends, Jim and Paul, who have experience in rocketry and pyrotechnics. Both teams are confident and excited to take on the challenge of building a human cannonball machine.

The task of building the machine is daunting, given the fact that the teams have just 10 hours to complete their builds. They must create a machine that can launch a human being more than 20 feet into the air and safely land them on a safety mat while staying within a budget of just 750 pounds.

The teams start their builds by scavenging the scrapyard for materials. Tim and Charlotte find a rusted barrel, which they plan to use as their cannon. However, they struggle to find a trampoline or anything that could work as a safety mat for the landing. Meanwhile, Jim and Paul are having trouble welding their machine together, and the pressure of the ticking clock is starting to get to them.

As the build progresses, the teams face various challenges. Tim and Charlotte manage to find an old mattress to act as their landing pad, which they cover with a tarp to reduce the impact of the landing. However, they struggle with figuring out how to control the trajectory of the human cannonball.

Jim and Paul, on the other hand, face issues with getting their machine to launch the human cannonball high enough. They decide to incorporate a compressed air system to provide an extra boost of power, but this proves to be more difficult than they had initially thought.

Despite the challenges, both teams manage to complete their builds before the time runs out. It's now time for the human cannonball challenge, and both teams nominate their strongest members to take on the daring task. Tim and Charlotte nominate Charlotte to be their human cannonball, while Jim and Paul nominate Jim.

The audience holds their breath as the first launch takes place, and Charlotte is successfully launched into the air, flying over 20 feet before landing on the makeshift landing pad. Jim's launch doesn't go quite as successfully, as he only manages to launch himself around 15 feet in the air before landing on the safety mat.

After both launches, the judges tally up the scores based on criteria such as height, distance, and overall safety. In the end, Tim and Charlotte are declared the winners of the challenge, with their machine launching Charlotte higher and further than Jim's launch.

The episode ends with both teams reflecting on their experience and discussing how they would improve their machines if given the chance. Overall, the first episode of Scrapheap Challenge season 9 is an exciting and nail-biting start to the season, with both teams taking on an ambitious challenge and pushing their skills to the limit.